The List
by Darty 794
Summary: Yang was always seen as just a party girl. Who knew she had an ideal on her dream man? Who else knew that it was some scrawny guy who lived across the hall?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Man with No Left Side

It was a normal rainy day in Beacon. Standard procedures were carried out as they always had been at the academy: outdoor classes were cancelled, the gymnasium was split into multiple, walled-off sections for multiple classes, and Ozpin just sat in his office, lazily drinking his coffee and occasionally drifting into slumber from the rhythmic tapping of the angels tears that fell from the sky and onto the glass of his roof and window. Be it a light drizzle or a thundering hurricane, these were the procedures for all of Beacon's faculty and staff. Even if the sky let down one drop, all classes were cancelled, much to the ire of Miss Goodwitch, who saw it all as just an excuse for Ozpin to nap; not that he really needed one to do so anyways.

It was at this moment, 1:47 in the afternoon, that the final lunch group of the day was finishing up. This group consisted of the all of the first years, half of the second years, and a few third years and higher. Lunch schedules were like lion eating orders, the strongest eat first, followed by the weakest. If you wanted to eat earlier, then you had to prove yourself to be on the same level as the upper years, a task some of the students had come to know as the "Git Gud" law.

Currently sitting in their usual spot was the dynamic team duos that were teams RWBY and JNPR. Ruby Rose, the red-headed leader of team RWBY was chugging her twelfth glass of milk to prove that she wasn't a child while her white-haired heiress partner, Weiss Schnee, argued that this only proved her to be even more childish than previously thought. The "black-haired ninja babe" (as she was known as by both her peers and Yang) Blake Belladonna was reading her book while fending off her blonde partner, Yang Xiao Long, from taking whatever scraps she could. Unfortunately, Yang's persistence was as ruthless as her fighting style.

Meanwhile, sitting across the table was team JNPR, who were engaged in their own activities. Jaune Arc, the blonde knight of a leader of the team, was finishing up his chicken nuggets while lost in thought on his current plights, one being getting the affection of the ever cold heiress, another being battle strategies against the various Grimm throughout Remnant, and a third thought being a memory of his father and mother arguing on whether or not Jaune should take his onesie with him. Sitting a few seats away was Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune's red-headed partner and secret admirer, melting in her seat as Jaune ate while quietly in thought, and constantly fighting her urge to just jump him and claim him as her own. But she wouldn't. Nora Valkyrie, the bouncy and bubbly, hyperactive red-head of the team was going off on an extensive tangent on the ethics of killing sloth-like Grimm to her black-haired with a pink strip best friend and partner, Lie Ren, who sat quietly and politely gave his two cents on the matter. For Ren, it was just another rainy day in Remnant.

It was ten minutes before the bell would ring for lunch to end, giving the students five minutes to get to their next classes. Ruby, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Yang would attend Miss Goodwith's "beyond the city" survival class, while Weiss, Blake, and Nora would attend Professor Oobleck's culinary arts class. Why an academy would need a cooking class was a question everyone asked, but none had answered. In fact when asked, Professor Ozpin simply gave some half-hearted answer such as "It's part of the tradition," or "It was little Billy Wick's dying wish", despite the records holding information of neither any tradition of the sort nor any "Billy Wick".

Ren was the only one who had free time, as his class was cancelled due to the rain. He had three options. He could either read and study in the library, wander the halls aimlessly, or go back to his room to sit in silence for an hour. He chose the latter, seeing how little quiet he got from being with his childhood friend. He loved the girl to death, as a sister, but even he had his limits. It wasn't just his partner that did something to irritate him in the quiet. Jaune would endlessly, although quietly, go off on tangents to himself about this, that, or, in some rare cases, those, while Pyrrha simply sighed to herself about Jaune. Rainy days were Ren's tea and wind chimes.

Suddenly, a roar erupted across the room. Cardin Winchester, leader of team CRDL and former bully, pointed his meaty and well-muscled finger at some random student. He was far away enough for the dynamic team duos to ignore, but they thought they heard the words "why-foo" at some point. Blake continued reading, but was ashamed of herself when she saw that Yang had taken advantage of the noise to steal everyone's scraps. Ruby was guzzling her eighteenth glass of milk, while Weiss was internally questioning the ethics the cafeteria had on serving students more than the necessary amounts of servings of any food or beverage. Nora stood up before Ren gently grasped her wrist, fully knowing what her intentions were with the ex-tormenter of her leader. Pyrrha was distracted from Jaune for a moment before returning to her schedule of admiring her partner, who was still stealing glances at the issue before returning to his plate.

The near-deafening "tink" of the fork hitting the now empty plate made Jaune look down at his plate. It was like a mirror, all Jaune could see was his reflection. He looked up and saw the culprit happily munching on his meal. The blonde brawler happily munched on her stolen goods. Jaune knew it was too late now. Yang was open minded about taking food, but giving food was an entirely different matter. She wouldn't give it up for anything; not for her sister, not for her partner, and certainly not for the guy who wears onesies to bed.

"Look out!" A warning that came too late as an unopened can of soda collided with the blonde knight's head, landing on his plate, possibly as another one of the universe's giant middle fingers directed towards the knight as fell to the ground. Pyrrha gasped and moved to Jaune's side, Ren's grip loosened, and Nora had that terrifying look in her eye reserved for only one kind of person. Yang merely swallowed her food and cackled at the knight's fall, while Blake was busy calculating the direction the metal meteor came from. Ruby finished her glass and started on her twentieth while jumping over the table to check on her fellow leader. Weiss was telling Ruby to knock it off with the milk before she developed some horrible disease from it.

"Nice catch, Vomit Boy!" Yang howled with delight at the fellow blonde's pain, adding insult to injury by using her nickname for him.

"Well, what can I say?"Jaune retorted, "It was pretty easy, since it's a _soft_ drink!" He laughed to himself as the table was dead quiet.

Weiss looked in disgust that Jaune would to Yang's level of making terrible puns. Blake looked away from her invisible schematics to stare wide-eyed at the now possibly dead Jaune. Nora giggled at Jaune's pun while Ren simply sighed. Pyrrha looked around the table for any kind of assistance.

But Ruby and Yang had the most surprising expressions. Yang looked like she was slapped in the face by someone near and dear to her as a face of pure shock and possible terror painted over her once beaming smile. Ruby dropped her glass and, as it shattered on the ground, she had a look of something worse than what Yang had at that moment: a look of pure and unadulterated panic. Yang was the first to speak up.

"D-Did you just-?" she started before the bell rang, signaling the students to move to their next class. Everyone shuffled their way out of lunch, although some had to be dragged (i.e. Yang by Ruby) due to recent events.

Meanwhile, Ren was making his way back to his room when Nora tagged along.

"Don't you have class next?" Ren questioned, fully expecting a quick reply from his partner.

"Well, I did, but Professor Oobleck said he saw the look I had in my eye and since Cardin was in my next class…"

Ren sighed. "You get to skip your class."

"Yay! Isn't that great, Renny?"

With another sigh, Ren replied.

"Yeah…fantastic."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

All Right Now

Sleeping on the couch after working out was the only way to spend a lazy afternoon. Yang believed it then, and she believes it now. It was a hot day outside, reaching its peak somewhere in the triple digits. As much as Yang liked the heat, even she had her limits; especially in a small cottage with no air conditioning.

Yang stirred from her slumber with heavy eyes struggling against the blinding light of the now slowly setting sun piercing through the window. She turned to her left, only to realize her mistake too late as she fell to the floor with a thud. Groaning in discomfort, she gripped the couch and pulled herself up.

"Stupid couch," she grumbled, "Why couldn't we just have a big crib in here? At least I wouldn't hit this stupid floor every other day."

A voice outside of her view interrupted her thoughts. "It isn't so bad, Yang." The blonde turned to see her fellow blonde and housemate, Jaune Arc, standing at the foot of the stairs, holding a large cardboard box from the attic labeled 'Beacon'.

Yang just looked down at herself. "Easy for you to say. You still have-"

"Don't!" Jaune shouted, resulting in Yang snapping her head up and Jaune to drop the box and cover his mouth. The box then landed on his foot, causing him to scream in pain, albeit more of a muffled shout thanks to his hands. Yang laughed with tears in her eyes as Jaune was still squirming and reeling from his pain.

Yang soon settled down and walked over to the recently wounded boy and his box of memories. She kissed him on the cheek and moved down to pick up the box. Deadlifting it one-handed, Yang carried the box over to the couch she was resting on not too long ago. Jaune, while significantly healed physically, he was now equally damaged in his confidence after seeing her lift the heavy box with no problem.

"Don't worry, sweetie." Yang cooed, "You're still the best man I know. After Qrow. And Dad. And Ozpin. And Port. And Oobleck. And-"

"I get it!" he snapped. "Am I at least better than you in manliness?"

"I don't know," Yang coyly stated as she flexed her arm, making it look like someone stuffed a ham into a sweater sleeve and left it there, "this one is about as big as my girls, and you know how big my girls are." She ended her statement by cradling both of her breasts in her arm, lightly swaying for extra 'oomph', as they say.

Jaune was momentarily mesmerized before quickly looking away, more red in the face than his mission to the hottest beach in all of Remnant. Turns out dousing Salamanders with sea water doesn't put them out; it just makes them angrier.

"It's okay! You're the only man I'd want to see me like this." She motioned her hand over herself before silently adding, "and maybe less."

"Say again?"

"What's this mess?!" She quickly shouted, attempting to cover her previous statement. Clearing her throat and calming herself down, she repeated. "What's this mess? Is it my old stuff from Beacon, or yours?"

"I'm not sure." Seating himself on the couch, he continued. "Just found it while cleaning the attic."

"Was Jorge up there?"

Jaune gave her an irritated look. "If by Jorge, you mean that spider that was so big it could Ruby for a snack, then yes, I met Jorge."

Yang chuckled. "I thought I heard a woman screaming." She looked the other way. "Guess it was my imagination."

"You know what?"

"I do know what. What I don't know is what's in this box."

Jaune pulled out a knife. Yang panicked.

"Jauney-baby! I'm sorry! It was just a joke! I love you!"

Jaune set the knife on the box before kissing her on the cheek. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I was just pulling it out so I could open it." He then grabbed the knife and surgically positioned it on the tape. "By the way, I love you, too." He then sliced the tape off like Ruby on Free Cookie Day.

The horror…

Jaune removed the tape and opened the box. Inside were various items collected over the years. Jaune and Yang looked over each item, both with a warm fondness and sense of nostalgia from walking down memory lane. Each item held a memory that each of them had, some shared, others separate.

A picture of Team RWBY and JNPR posing for their first team outing together. Yang was doing bunny ears behind Ruby and Blake, while Ruby did the same to Weiss. Blake was doing her usual thing, reading. Jaune questioned if she knew about her picture being taken, but Yang knew her partner inside and out, and Blake definitely knew about the camera. How? The book was upside-down. Weiss tried to look as prim and proper as possible, failing thanks to her partner and team leader. Nora was hugging Jaune and Ren tightly in her arms, Ren more so than Jaune, though Jaune's pained look made it seem otherwise. Standing behind Nora was…

Jaune's grip tightend. Yang noticed and let go, using her hand to gently place it on Jaune's, bringing him back to reality.

"Thanks."

"It's what I'm here for."

Jaune set the picture down and looked inside again, taking interest in a magazine that found its way in there. Laying on top of the pile below the picture was an issue of "Busty's Beauties". On it a blue-haired woman was wearing a purple bath robe that was covering her pink lingerie. Her figure resembled that of an hourglass, though this was probably how she was positioned; bent forward with her hands cupping her bountiful chest. The cover story was titled 'Oceana's Thinly Veiled Secrets'. Jaune felt a lump in his throat and a tightness in his pant before a wide area of pain covered the back of his head. Yang was giving him the ugliest stink eye he ever saw.

"You were staring!"

"I-I was just reading the titles!" He defended.

"Bull!" She exclaimed. "You were looking at something else that starts with T!"

"Come on! You know I only have eyes for you." He said the last line as softly as he could, hoping to move past this.

In a huff, Yang quietly threatened, "This isn't over."

Jaune was safe.

For now.

Putting the magazine away, Jaune found a poster of The Achieve Men. It was an old poster, too, considering one of the members was still there. Rye left to pursue his own career as a DJ. A lot of fans were sad, some angry, but they all eventually moved on and accepted his decision. When asked if he missed the old crew in an interview, he responded, "Everybody but that nosy Glue. Well, I guess I miss him, too. And don't tell Edgar this, but I kind of miss him, too, even if he was a little weird and creepy."

"I guess that answers whose box this is." Jaune plainly stated.

"Guess so." Yang said with a smile.

"Wait. Why do you have an issue of- Well, you know?"

"Eh. Got bored. Thought I'd see what guys liked so much about this kind of stuff. Not all that impressed to be honest. The girls are boring, the articles were just celebrity gossip, and the ads weren't for me. You'd have be a real "boob" to like this kind of stuff!"

"Well," Jaune started as he laid back, "if "mammary" serves me right, didn't they have jokes in there, too?"

Before Jaune could open his eyes to see the look on Yang's face, he was already about 180 lbs. heavier and his mouth was being invaded. He knew exactly what to do in this situation: just go with it. As Yang continued to ravage his face, the blonde knight simply moved his hands up and down Yang's back, gently massaging here and there until she stopped.

Taking a few breaths, Yang finally spoke. "You know what puns do to me, Vomit Boy!"

"Yeah, I know."

"Do it again, and-"

""Well, I'll see", right?"

She climbed off of his lap and took her seat on the other side of the box. She went back to strolling down memory lane before she noticed something. Something that she quickly grabbed. The last thing she wanted anyone to see, especially-!

"What was that?"

Too late.

"W-What was what?" She asked, clinging the object close to her chest, redder in the face than he'd ever seen before.

"What you just grabbed. What is it?" No answer besides Yang clinging tighter. "Please, baby?" Tighter. "Please?" It's about to become dust, and not the good kind. Jaune sighed and admitted defeat. "Fine. I won't bother you anymore."

Jaune suddenly felt something slam against his chest. He looked over and saw Yang and saw her keeping her gaze down. He took the object and got a good look at it.

It was a now crinkled old piece of paper. It had checkmarks next to words which were lined in a vertical form.

Jaune went down the line and read aloud each one. "Funny with a great sense of humor…" he began, "heroic and brave, kind and sweet, strong, faithful," the next one, which was in bold, he read in disgust, "great body," finally reaching the final trait, reading it silently to himself.

"What is this?" Jaune asked.

"What's it look like? It's a list!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Crushed Grapes

Professor Port was a man of fine tastes, or so we're told. He once fought and killed over a hundred Grimm in one night with nothing more than his wits and a toothbrush, or so we're told. Yes, Professor Peter Port was the bravest man to have ever blessed the land a Remnant with his very existence. Or so we're told.

This was the entire class: five minutes on the actual lesson, the rest of the time spent on the Professor's outlandish stories. Despite how far-fetched the stories may have seemed, Jaune was one of the few who believed. Ever class with Port, Jaune would sit in his seat, wide-eyed as if he were a child listening to his father's stories. If Jaune didn't have his dad, he knew who he'd like to be his.

In the class, the arrangements were all the same. Aye Vory sat here, Citrine Rind sat there, and so on and so forth. However, there were two students not in their normal seats; Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. The Professor thought it odd at first, but thought it was something along the lines of "the seven year itch" despite the facts that Beacon attendance is four years and Yang and Ruby were barely through half of the first year.

The two were definitely not listening to Port. Instead, they had their focus on only one person, and that was the tall, blonde, and scraggly young knight sitting a few seats in front of them. Yang gazed at Jaune with longing eyes. As if he were the most adorable puppy she ever found on her doorstep before her dad got bit on the leg once and they ran away to become a scholar in law school and now serve as the number one prosecutor in all of Remnant. Yang sighed as she melted further into her desk and seat at the thought of her cutie little puppy lawyer sitting in front of her.

Ruby, on the other hand, was having something akin to a silent breakdown. She knew about Yang's list. Heck, Ruby helped Yang make the list! But she also knew how this song and dance goes; Yang finds a guy who meets just one of the traits, and she falls for them. They end up breaking her heart, usually by finding someone else. And every time it happened, it broke Ruby's heart.

She remembers walking past Yang's room, her crying, sobbing, and wailing into her pillow for nights on end because of her "breakups" with these boys she never really spoke to and she thought it was because of some flaw she found in herself. Sometimes it was because she was too ugly, sometimes too fat, sometimes too shy, or sometimes too aggressive. No matter how Ruby sliced it with Crescent Rose, the problem remained the same: Yang fell too fast in love with someone she barely knows.

Yang knew it, too. She knew of her "illness", as her uncle called it, but she didn't know how to cure it. Someway, somehow, whether she confessed or not, the boys would reject her and find someone else. She knew she would find some horrible, and most likely imaginary, flaw in herself that would leave her bedridden with depression for days on end. But, much like with instinct, love was something she just couldn't fight.

"And now, students, here's your class assignment: I have here, in my super special, patent-pending, Porthole! I will open this up, and out pops a deadly Grimm at random. It could be a Beowolf. It could be an Ursa. It could even be the legendary Dragon… Although that's unlikely as it's just a myth. Now, the entire class will vote on our volunteer who will challenge this fearsome beast! And by "the entire class will vote", I mean I will choose a student at random! You can leave a complaint in my suggestion box, but like so many of your pathetic attempts to give depression by leaving childish and just plain rude messages, they will go unanswered. Ready?"

Everyone was on edge. It could be anything, as the professor said. It could be anything, including a high level monster, like an alpha, or a Nevermore.

"Eenie…" Port pointed to the top right.

Never before had fear gripped students in this class as it had now. They all had to leave their weapons in their lockers. If they need them, they'd have to summon them from their scrolls, which would require time to concentrate plus time for their lockers to arrive. And time is never kind to a hunter.

"Meenie…" Port pointed to Weiss.

Weiss felt her stomach drop. But this wasn't fear; no, this was hunger. Due to her new diet plan, she skipped breakfast and had a lighter lunch. Why would she need to go on a diet? Well, her older sister sent her a selfie photo and, as much as it pained her, though not as much as from this hunger, Winter looked good in her photo. Sure, it may have been on a whim and taken without much thought, it still made her feel self-conscious. The last thing on her mind was fighting a Grimm.

"Minie…" Port was just swaying his finger here and there now. He didn't really care about who it was because he knew they could handle it. So he shut his eyes and pointed to the bottom left. "…You!"

Right at Jaune Arc. Jaune looked left. Then right. Behind him; below and above. He tried getting up and moving, only to be pursued by Port's finger.

"Are you done?" he asked.

Admitting defeat, Jaune stepped forward onto what his professor liked to call the slaughter floor. He was nervous, and almost everyone could tell. Weiss simply ignored him, looking up ways to fight her hunger on her scroll. Ruby was too focused on Yang to really notice Jaune. Yang eyes were only for him.

"Good luck, Vomit Boy!" she cheered as endearingly as possible. Unfortunately, due to Yang's voice being registered to Jaune as snarky and sarcastic, he simply tried to ignore her. "Try to get me a souvenier!" she hollered. The poor guy was ready to lose his lunch from the stress. One more word and he might just- "You've got this, killer!"

The only response Jaune had was his mulched chicken nuggets covering his trousers. Now everyone had their eyes on him. Weiss got a terrible idea; an absolutely awful idea from it, which she then pushed to the back of her mind. 'A Schnee does not think that way', she quiet scolded to herself. Ruby took her eyes off Yang for one second, not even one second, to look at Jaune's mess. 'Poor guy', she thought, then went back to looking at Yang, who was no longer in her seat.

Ruby's eyes just about popped out of her head as she saw Yang down on the slaughter floor, taking a bottle of a clear liquid, an old rag, combining the liquid with the rag, and wiping, dabbing, rubbing, and scrubbing on Jaune's pants; thighs, inner thighs, crotch! She was down there, innocently scrubbing his special area. Jaune couldn't die of embarrassment, but he wished he could right now.

"Bored now." Port stated. "I'm just gonna push the button and hope you're out of the way when the fight starts, okay?"

"Wait, wha-?" Port slammed down on the button before Jaune could respond.

Just then, a portal opened itself up, and five seconds afterwards, a white hoof stomped its way out of the portal. Jaune quivered as he saw the hulking beast that stepped forth. Standing at an easy seven and a half feets, the Grimm stared down at his prey. His crimson helmet was adorned with a pair of bull horns, and lined down its back into spines that descended in size the further it went, ending in a bristled tail. It let out an angry mooing sound from its flesh-rending mouth. The black as a starless night fur cloaked its body, ending in pastel white hooves and glove-like hands.

"Well, now! Here's something you don't see every day! Can anyone tell me the name of this beast?!" he screamed in delight as the cow-monster was readying itself like a marathon sprinter.

"Edgar?" one student asked.

"No! A Minos! Who would name a cow Edgar? That's just plain stupid!"

The beast roared as it charged Jaune and Yang, the latter of who was just finishing up her scrubbing. Jaune grabbed Yang by under her armpits and threw her to the left as Jaune readied himself for the first, and hopefully not last blow by the Grimm. He didn't have time to summon with his scroll, so he braced himself with as much aura as he could muster, and prayed for the best.

Yang looked on in mid-flight as the beast uppercutted Jaune with its skull, flinging him to the far back wall of the class, everyone jumped and ducked out of the way to avoiding getting caught in the middle of the battle. She felt so helpless in that one moment. And that one moment was enough for her. After landing, Yang got to her feet and charged the Minos.

For the first time since class started, Professor Port became scared. "Miss Xiao Long, no!" he cried out. "Despite its tremendous size and power, its mind can only focus on one target!"

But his warning fell on deaf ears as Yang punched the beastly bovine in the ribs, only to be bounce off by its thick hide. Yang was now the target as it swung a white hand to swat her away. Ducking, Yang tried the back of the knee next, only to fail then as well. It instead landed forward onto its hands and using both hooves to kick Yang, sending her behind the professors' desk and cratering into the board.

Yang fell with a thud. The Paladin punch she got from battling that gangster did about a quarter more damage than this thing. But for some reason, her strength was failing her this time. Was it the Grimm? Did it have some kind of muscle de-booster thing on him or something? Yang was so lost and confused that she didn't notice it standing on top of her with a hoof hovering over her.

"Yang!" her sister cried, but even as she looked up, she only had enough time to brace for what was coming by shutting her eyes. In less than a second, she would be dead and gone. Professor Port would probably be fired. She would never find her mother. She would never get to watch her baby sister grow up. She would never get to confess to Jaune. All because she was too stupid to not fall in love.

'You know,' Yang thought, 'I have an awful lot of thinking time right now.' She opened her eyes and looked up to see her current love interest standing with his back to her, holding his shielth over his head with both hands. He was clearly struggling, which a bit of a turn off for her. Luckily it was just enough for her to hear what he was saying.

"Locker!" Jaune struggled to get out. "Now!"

Yang nodded as she jumped away and pulled out her scroll. Summoning her locker, she had enough time during the waiting period to watch Jaune step away and parry the hoof. He was panting hard, but he was still goading it by banging his sword onto his shielth. Making little hops side to side, he made sure it didn't move anywhere, focused only on him. Like a brave knight guarding villagers from a monster, Yang watched her increasingly sweaty hero try to save everyone.

She was yanked from her dream world when a locker landed a few yards away. She ran as fast as she could towards her locker, input her pin, and grabbed Ember Celica. She also took what little time she had to think of a strategy. Punching it wasn't working, so she needed something different. Something radical, bold, and new!

'I got it! I'll just punch him really hard this time!'

Armed with her new plan, she charged the Minos from behind, leaped onto its back, gripping the spines as she clambered up, and began firing hot round after hot round into the back of the mad cows' neck. Rearing back, it fell over and attempted to squash the annoying yellow bug on it. Said annoying bug was already off and standing next to Jaune.

"You got a plan?" he asked.

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

"I heard a little about it while summoning my locker. It's a Minos, which are bipedal bovine Grimm who focus only on direct threats and interfering combatants."

"Could you say that again like a normal guy?"

"It's a walking cow that fight what's in front of them and whatever attacks them. By the way, what happened earlier? I've seen you take way harder hits than what this guy has."

"I don't know. He hit me and the next thing I know, I'm not feeling my semblance activating!"

"I've read about this. Apparently, there are some Grimm who negate specific semblances. This one probably cancels your damage-power transfer semblance."

"Yeah, and I also can't use my get hit-hit harder ability."

Jaune sighed inwardly. "Yeah, exactly."

The Minos was back on its hooves and ready to kill.

"So, to say it again, you got a plan?"

"Hmm… It might cancel your semblance, but it still takes damage like normal, right?"

"Yeah, except for its thick skin."

"Maybe we could... I got it! Yang, you distract him," Jaune then ran off, "and don't get killed!"

"Don't plan on it, sugar-baby."

Yang began blasting it with her shot-gauntlets, circling it to keep the attention on her. It worked, and the beast swiped at and tried to stomp her, but nothing landed. She then slid between its legs, firing the whole time, and began shooting the backside. The bristle tail suddenly started whipping about wildly, smashing the desk to splinters.

"No! My Cherrywood! I knew I should have gotten Mahogany!"

The tail was definitely a problem that needed to be dealt with, but Yang couldn't figure out how. Her semblance won't protect against it, and her punches would only make it swing back around.

A glyph appeared on the ground below the wildly swinging tail and stopped it dead in its tracks with a suddenly rising icicle. The Minos struggled, unaware that it wouldn't escape from the casters' icy grip. Weiss stepped to Yangs' right and casted another glyph on the hooves. The beast, having lost its balance, fell backwards, breaking its legs in the process. Now it was writhing in pain.

"You can kiss and thank your boyfriend for the assistance." She stated coldly. "And before you say anything, I know he isn't, as crushing as that fact may be to me."

The Minos ripped itself from its icy shackles and spun its body so it was crawling on its hands. It charged forward, only to be shot in its left eye, making it swing uncontrollably to the left. Another shot was made to the right eye, fully blinding it. Ruby, arriving amidst a flurry of rose petals, stood on the other side of her sister.

"When this is over, we are having a long talk about your behavior, young lady!" For the first time ever, Ruby was scolding somebody. "Right now, let's finish this thing off!"

Ruby made the first strike, using her semblance and her sniper fire to launch her at a high enough speed to cut through the right arm. Weiss followed by summoning a large glacier to land on its head, dazing it. Yang moved in for the final blow, rushing in and uppercutting it in the chin.

"That's for Jaune!"

The blonde in question snuck in underneath and positioned his sword right in the soft spot of the chin. He held it as high as he could. Much to the dismay of the young hunters in training, the Minos started moving again.

"Yang! Punch my sword!" Jaune demanded

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Following his orders, she punched Jaunes' sword forward, leading to the Minos finally keeling over from having its neck sliced open.

Jaune, Yang, Weiss, and Ruby stood before the entire class and Professor Port, awaiting a reaction.

"I wish to speak with you two," he began, pointing at Yang and Jaune, "after class"

As the students started gathering their things for when the bell rings, Yang caught up with Jaune.

"So, um, Jaune," she started, fighting as hard as she could to fight back her blush, "about earlier, before the fight, I mean-"

"Don't worry about it."

"Huh?"

Smiling, he repeated. "Don't worry about it. Ruby told me you have this sort of 'mom mode' when you see stains on a friends' clothes. By the way, is that club soda?"

"Um, yeah, why?"

"My mom uses that for my clothes, too! Guess it's a mom thing!"

"Haha, yeah." Yang then turned to her thoughts. 'Great! Now he thinks I'm a mom! Moms aren't sexy!'

The bell finally rang and the students filed out. Yang and Jaune stayed behind, as they had promised. Ruby tried desperately to stay behind, only to be told to move on to her next class. Weiss had to drag Ruby with her.

"Come on, Ruby, you're buying me a snack from the vending machine while your sister and her boyfriend serve their time together in detention."

Weiss couldn't see it, but Ruby had the most horrified look on her face. Now she couldn't get the thought of Port leaving for some reason, abandoning the two alone. Maybe a chill blows in. Maybe Yang gets chilly and Jaune offers her a hug to warm her up. Tickling follows, and then bam! Yang's a crazy cat lady with her favorite being a black cat name Blake Jr.

The absolute horror of it all.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

A Little Wine

Jaune hummed as he was making dinner. Tonight, he and Yang would be dining on the food of kings: macaroni and cheese with dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. It had become a bit of a tradition in their house: since Jaune was the only qualified hunter, he was the breadwinner for their "family". Yang used to cook these meals herself to give him one last taste of home before leaving, but a man can only take so many charcoal-flavored meals before he has to cancel the mission and be stuck at home waiting for the doctor.

As a cook, Jaune wasn't half-bad. In fact, some would even go so far as to say he's a good chef! He cuts vegetables at reasonable sizes, not so big they become a meal themselves and not so small that they might as well not be in the meal at all. The beef is always cooked to a medium rare to well done state, keeping flavor (which Jaune always found important, though he swears he saw Yang eat a boot once), and the chicken is always cooked with no pink or brown in the middle. Yes, what Yang loved the most about his cooking was how he prepared the table; candle-lit, food already on their plates, and a glass of apple juice in each glass. Just because they're able to buy and drink booze, doesn't mean they have to. Yang saves that for when he leaves.

She sat at the table, eyes closed, silently thinking about them living together. Where they will do before bed. What they'll do when he gets back. What they'll do between him getting back and leaving again. She chuckled to herself, because she already knew. They would relax, be happy, and not worry about anything.

No Grimm, because thanks to the combined efforts of both Humans and Faunus, the black monsters haven't made the news since the final battle in the Black Pit of the Wasteland. No late assignments after she dropped out and he graduated early. And definitely no-

Yang suddenly felt cold.

She looked down at her "battle scar", as her father called it to sugarcoat what really happened in the attack on Vale. She moved the stub around, hoping to get some feeling from beyond her biceps. Her father brought home a replacement one day, but Yang refused to use it, no matter how often her father pushed her. Eventually he gave up.

All of her friends had their own way of approaching her since then. Ruby, being the best sister that she is, tries to keep others from stepping too far with their jokes, even if Yang says it's okay. Weiss, keeping her title as the Snow Princess solid as ever, refused to ever comment on anything having to do with the incident; keeping herself distant was her way of coping is what Yang figured. Blake, after much apologizing, spent the next few nights of their reunion staring at her arm, making Yang feel really creeped out. I mean, she just wouldn't stop staring sometimes. Makes you wonder what's going on in that cat-eared head of hers.

Nora, immature and childish as she can be, attempts to high-five Yang with the wrong hand. Ren is usually there to stop it, while also offering some holistic, herbal medicine he always finds and makes himself. Even with heavy liquor, it still tastes like something you'd find at the bottom of the lake. Jaune started out like Weiss, distancing himself, but when that didn't work, he decided to face it head-on. He grabbed it and stared at it for almost ten minutes before looking up with apologetic eyes and a nervous smile, saying sorry until he was hoarse. He was too adorable for her to stay mad at him.

Since then, he was like Ruby, pushing away anyone who went too far. Eventually, he noticed that her biggest bully was herself. Every now and then, Yang would put herself down with some comment about how she screwed up or how she misses her arm. He would then tell Yang to stop. When that didn't work, he tried again, more firm in his tone each time. He made sure she never made herself feel like trash.

Jaune then walked in with two plates of hot pasta covered in cheese sauce and small, breaded poultry shaped like prehistoric beasts. He set his plate down before rushing over to Yang, setting her plate down, he knelt down and held her hand.

"Yang?" he called to her gently. Yang was home at the moment.

"Yang?" he called again, this time more firm, gripping her hand with equal firmness. Again, a less than desirable response.

"Yang, sweetheart, are you okay?" Jaune hated this. He hated that Yang suffers through this every day. He hated that he can't help her any more than what he does. He even hated himself at times for that. Even after everything that's happened, after everything he's done, he's still too weak to-!

"Yeah."

Jaune looked into her lavender eyes and asked her, as gently as he could, "Are you sure?"

Yang looked down at her plate and smiled. "Yeah," she answered again, "I'm gonna be just fine."

"Okay, if you're sure." Jaune walked over to his seat, but did not sit down. In a convincing (if his audience was deaf and drunk) fancy accent, Jaune bowed his torso, one arm over his stomach and another behind his back, "Bone half of teat!"

Yang held her hand over her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

In faux offense, Jaune stood straight up, giving a scowl. "Was wron, may sherry? Do you known lake zee on tray of mwah!?"

Yang was really struggling now. So much so that she bent over to hide her red face.

"Pair haps I kin Meg a duck Al orange, or zoom omelet-oh do from age!"

She couldn't take it anymore. Yang let go and laughed harder than she did in a long time. For a solid two minutes she roared in laughter (and ruined the table spread by nearly breaking the table with her fist), stopping once to catch her breath. She then remembered why she was laughing, and the vicious cycle began anew.

Jaune was enjoying himself, too. He was having fun, and Yang was laughing. Nothing in the world could ruin this moment.

Yang finally settled down enough to actually look at Jaune. "Thanks. I needed that."

Jaune gave her a soft smile. "I know. That's why I'm here. That, and the meal."

"Well, let's eat, then!"

Jaune finally sat down and saw Yang was already digging in. He was glad she was actually focusing on something other than her arm. He followed his standard procedure for this meal: cut off the tails, eat the rest of the body first, eat half of the macaroni, and then mix what's left for a combination that sends a man into heavenly bliss. Before reaching step three, Yang caught his attention.

"So," she started before swallowing what was in her mouth and finishing her sentence, "what's this big mission of yours this time?"

"Well, basically, it's just some recon. They're looking to build a new settlement, and they need us to make sure it's really uninhabited."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"Sounds boring."

"Eh. Beats that saving the world stuff. You know, one province asked me to stay behind and rule as their king!"

"Why didn't you?"

"I'm just not into that kind of stuff. I mean, yeah, you get everyone's love and respect. And sure, they do everything you tell them to do, but I don't think I'm ready for that kind of responsibility."

Yang raised her eyebrow. "You make it sound like being a parent."

He chuckled. "Maybe one of these days, but not right now."

"Yeah, I don't think I could handle it either."

This time, Jaune raised his. "Being a parent, or ruling a province?"

"Yes." They both chuckled.

Jaune finished off his plate before he started the next topic. "Ruby's gonna be here tomorrow to watch you."

She groaned. "You make it sound like I'm a kid."

He raised his eyebrow again.

"Well, more of a kid. But I can take care of myself!"

He sighed. "I know, but…" Jaune struggled to find the right words.

"You don't trust me." Yang finished for him.

Taking a deep breath, Jaune responded. "Yes."

Yang stood up immediately, walked over to Jaune, and slapped him. He looked up, and, in the candle light, he saw tears. She then stormed off to her room without looking back or saying a word. Jaune just sat there.

"Way to go, Jaune," he said to himself, "you just had to say that, didn't you?"


End file.
